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There is almost universal dissatisfaction with the accuracy of official records on delinquency.'Yet, at present, there are few realistic alternatives.Official records must be used, not only to provide statistical information on deliquent trends, but to act as an information base on the qualitative characteristics (i.e., delinquent types) of offenders.It is this base upon which many important practical and theoretical decisions are presently dependent.A host of provocative problems relative to each of these uses merits serious attention.Two are discussed below.The first has to do with the currently increasing emphasis on preventing delinquency. 2If prevention is to be successful, it must forestall delinquent be-
Erickson et al. (Sun,) studied this question.